Heroic Histrionics

It all starts in the MCU. Really, in the MCU! It just doesn’t stay there. Instead, things happen, misunderstandings happen, and things take the Avengers apart. Years later, different, but no less important things put them together again in a wild declaration of unity against a superior enemy.

They lose.

The loss isn’t one small loss either. The loss is traumatically, horrifically terrible.

They lose their world. They lose their universe. They lose their timeline.

It’s brutal, and the last few standing, in the end, are Tony Stark, Loki, and Nick Fury.

And the enemy, of course.

It’s not acceptable.

It’s three against one, and it’s horrifying because there’s nothing left. There’s no one left. No one to fight for, only a concept to fight against, something which isn’t done. Worse, something which is hungry and mindless, and so much worse than any sentient enemy ever was, having been let in by someone they’d managed to bring down only just when they’d had so many more on their side in this fight.

It’s Loki who figures out that the rampage won’t stop at their universe, at their Earth, that it’s moved from another timeline before and will keep going, destroying in its wake. It’s Loki who comes up with their plan.

It was a ridiculous plan, honestly, which only worked as much as it did because Tony had managed to get the infinity gems into his possession when Thanos fell, earning himself the horrible battle scar of them being welded into his skin because he’d refused to let go of them even when they’d started to eat away at him. That they hadn’t simply destroyed him was something that Fury put down to pure stubborn, really, because things hadn’t gone near so well for a few others who had tried during the fight with Thanos, the fight before the Ender.

But that ridiculous plan? It was a painfully simple one. They’d just write the Ender out of existence, would reassemble everything into a better image, and everything would be fine.

It was a noble goal, really, but the Ender was greater than the stones. The Ender had eaten the stones in other universes, and they weren’t the first to try such a thing. Still, there was that stubborn factor, and between Fury manning the details, Tony providing the stubborn, and Loki directing the shape of the magic, they forced the Ender far enough away to escape.

Sort of.

They weren’t the only ones in such a position, after all. Another group, from another reality, had a similar idea and the two broken and bleeding timestreams perhaps ended up touching a bit too aggressively in passing. Their efforts to rebuild their own threads of reality came too close and turned into an anchoring lodestone as they twisted together, dragging in more fragments.

Fury did his best to control the chaos as other people ended up caught up in the whirlpool their little round of creation had become, and he was the one who finally seized on the fact that he was the only common factor, the only one who apparently was ridiculous enough to bridge between the first few fragmented realities attracted to theirs.

So he grabbed onto that and he twisted, trying option after option until he landed on one that stuck. By then Tony had long since exhausted everything just holding on, and Loki was no better, even as more hands came on deck to help. Even another mage hadn’t been enough, not really.

Fury was the only one not directly burning power, but instead was fortifying himself as other versions of who he’d been slipped past, lending him their strength and experience as he secured his people, all those who were now in his care even if they hadn’t started there.

That was the clue.

Memories were what was keeping everything from settling the right way, were leaving sharp shards of discordant notes that kept kicking everyone back into the vortex of power draining horror rather than settling in the new reality they were trying to craft so they could recover. Still, they couldn’t risk losing the memories either, not when the skills they had might be needed.

So everything was distilled, made soft, and new friendships forged in the seemingly endless loop of being kicked out of reality repeatedly were kept even as old ties and memories were walled off, to be remembered when they were needed, added when they were needed. If that process came with a certain amount of making everyone younger, then that was something of a bonus. If it came with the downside that maturity levels would match apparent ages… then that was why Fury still had his accumulated memories and kept a little removed from the fray. Someone had to guard the edges of their new reality when the person holding the reigns didn’t remember anymore, and that someone might as well be him.

Fury suspected that the Pepper that ended up in the party might remember more than she let on too, but that was fine. In fact, it was a relief to the only man who intended to properly remember from his group. She could keep an eye on Tony, regardless of what his memories were doing at the moment. She was good at it. And the Pym… He was just a madman, so Fury would work around him and hope that he didn’t get them kicked back out of their new reality. Again.

So it was unstable, and new arrivals kept happening, but Tony had his gems, forgotten about in his right hand even while being ever present to anchor their new reality around them. It was enough, and while it might not have been home, the new reality was hope.

And that was the beginning of the Academy. The Avengers Academy.

Tony’s right hand is always covered because regardless of what he’s got on, he’s always got a thin metal film hiding his hand from himself, which actively hurts when left exposed. He simply doesn’t think about it because of this and keeps it further gauntleted so it doesn't do that. The thin metal was actually the result of acquiring the Infinity Stones and is what he did to contain their power enough it wouldn’t burn out his everything.

Tony is more than a little wary about talking to Pym because he feels like every time he does it makes his head hurt. Way to keep poking the latent memories there Pym.

Any time any new character enters the radius of Tony’s universe bubble, regardless of origin, their memories and method of arrival takes a sharp 90 degree turn into something that won’t destabilize the entire Academy in the process. Suffice to say, this has led to some weird results. These days it means people arriving in pods.

Why yes, alternates happen. All the time. Bucky and the Winter Soldier. Steve and Dino-Steve. About 30 different Peter Parkers. Groot, teen, and Baby Groot.

Nobody even finds it weird. It just is. Okay, so they find it a little weird, but everyone copes rather well.

Pepper is amazing and Tony admires her forever, but he can never put his finger on why something about her seems a little off. The idea that she might not be the Pepper he started with never once crossed his mind.

Janet took her friendship with her original Tony and vigorously applied it to this Tony when they met in the space between worlds. He was thrilled and by the time they ended up in the Academy they were real friends on its own merits.

Tony’s obsession with giving everyone a suit is totally a side effect from his low key serious paranoia that the universe is about to be under attack again, eventually. Oddly enough, the constant incursions of enemies tend to settle this paranoia to a degree and he doesn’t mind when they happen. He just sees it as an opportunity.

The tendency of villains to be dragged into the Academy is blamed entirely on Tony’s desire for people to just get the fuck along already damn it. It doesn’t work on everyone, but it works on a shocking number of people.

Tony does his best to spoil everyone. He can’t help it. His name is on practically everything in the Academy and people let him. So, spoiling away!

Tony will one hundred percent flirt with everyone. Tony will also a hundred percent date anyone. He’ll also spend time with anyone in the Academy who wants his attention. None of this means he’s into you personally, of course (Enchantress he’s looking at you here) but he’ll still go along with it because he likes to see his friends happy.

He’s got his arc in round form and it’s actually rather comfortable and not at all weird or there because his life is in danger as far as Tony’s concerned. It’s just cool. He never thinks too hard about how he got it though.

Tony’s water and space phobias are pretty much gone. In fact, a lot of his personal hangups seem to have more or less evaporated. We’ll just blame that on having bigger things to worry about.